Tea (meal)
Tea refers to several different meals in countries formerly part of the British Empire. Teatime is the time at which the tea meal is usually eaten, which is late afternoon to early evening.
United Kingdom & Ireland
Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea is a light meal typically eaten between 4 pm and 6 pm. Observance of the custom originated amongst the wealthy classes in England in the 1840s.Anna Maria Russell, Duchess of Bedford, is widely credited as transforming afternoon tea in England into a late-afternoon meal whilst visiting Belvoir Castle, though Charles II of England's wife Catherine of Braganza is often credited with introducing tea to the court upon her arrival in 1662. By the end of the nineteenth century, afternoon tea developed to its current form and was observed by both the upper and middle classes: "the table was laid… there were the best things with a fat pink rose on the side of each cup; hearts of lettuce, thin bread and butter, and the crisp little cakes that had been baked in readiness that morning."
Afternoon Tea
Afternoon Tea is a 1910 oil painting by American artist Richard E. Miller, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana. Like many of Miller's paintings, it depicts women in a sunny scene, filled with flowers, depicted in his Impressionist style with a distinct flavor of Japonism.
Description
Afternoon Tea has been lauded as one of Miller's best paintings, "a confident, mature work and an absolute knockout in coloristic power." He applied vibrant colors like bright reds, greens, and purples with artistic license, driven by decorative concerns rather than objective truth. By framing the two women with a Japanese parasol, Miller created a focal point that unified the disparate colors, patterns, and textures he juxtaposed so boldly, a hallmark of his particular style of Impressionism. The parasol was a device Miller would use over and over again, enamored of its "circular shape, ribbed structure, [and] colorful surface designs." The prominent brushstrokes are also a key feature of Miller's mature works.
